Les anglonautes

About | Search | Vocapedia | Learning | Podcasts | Videos | History | Culture | Science | Translate

 Home Up Next

 

Vocapedia > Language > Describing people

 

Appearance, personality, traits, features

 

 

 

 

General Sir Mike Jackson reviewing the 135th Sovereign’s Parade

at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2001.

 

Photograph: Tim Ockenden

PA

 

General Sir Mike Jackson obituary

Former head of the British army and commander in the Gulf war of 2003

G

Wed 16 Oct 2024    18.58 CEST

Last modified on Thu 24 Oct 2024    20.59 CEST

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/16/
general-sir-mike-jackson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leonard Nimoy, Spock of ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 83

NYT 27 February 2015

 

 

 

 

Leonard Nimoy, Spock of ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 83

Video    The New York Times    27 February 2015

 

Leonard Nimoy,

best known for playing the character Spock

in the Star Trek television shows and films,

died at 83.

 

Produced by: Robin Lindsay

Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/17DJ6iw

Watch more videos at: http://nytimes.com/video

 

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3msMUM9gig

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Andy Singer

NO EXIT

Cagle

11 September 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illustration: Courtney Wirth

 

The Introvert on the Podium

NYT

NOV. 22, 2014

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/
business/the-introvert-on-the-podium.html 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

trait        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/09/
ben-kingsley-interview-rosanna-greenstreet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

come across to N

as charming and sophisticated        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/
nyregion/ivana-trump-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cerebral        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/nyregion/
17rift.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wonk        USA

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/03/
513194862/with-conflict-and-drama-trump-hooks-you-like-a-reality-tv-show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

self-effacing        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/
movies/06albeck.html

 

 

 

 

subdued-looking        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/22/nyregion/
for-christie-an-inauguration-day-clouded-by-crisis.html

 

 

 

 

withdrawn        USA

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/10/
721829638/we-wanted-to-be-larger-than-life-
paul-stanley-of-kiss-on-almost-50-years-of-rock

 

 

 

 

shy, insecure and steadfastly old-fashioned        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/may/01/
ray-davies-kinks-meltdown-interview

 

 

 

 

shy and soft-spoken        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/us/
25parks.html

 

 

 

 

frail and soft-spoken        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/
opinion/bring-back-house-calls.html

 

 

 

 

soft-spoken        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/nyregion/
17rift.html

 

 

 

 

looking frail and sounding faint        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/04/
opinion/white-americas-broken-heart.html

 

 

 

 

quiet, private man        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/
science/space/neil-armstrong-dies-first-man-on-moon.html

 

 

 

 

otherworldly        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/
nyregion/17rift.html

 

 

 

 

aloof        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/04/
edward-heath-abuse-inquiry-must-unravel-a-solitary-private-man

 

 

 

 

awkward        USA

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/08/
501159971/-awkward-and-insecure-get-to-the-root-of-writer-issa-rae-s-humor

 

 

 

 

a proud and solitary man        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/04/
edward-heath-abuse-inquiry-must-unravel-a-solitary-private-man

 

 

 

 

a man of a few words        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/us/
chris-harper-mercer-umpqua-community-college-shooting.html

 

 

 

 

standoffish

 

 

 

 

elusive        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/
books/review/the-elusive-president.html

 

 

 

 

reclusive        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/
technology/david-karp-quit-school-to-get-serious-about-start-ups.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

introverts / the introvert        USA

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/02/18/
465999756/how-parents-and-teachers-can-nurture-the-quiet-power-of-introverts

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/
business/the-introvert-on-the-podium.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

smooth-talking and cheerful        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/
arts/music/heavy-d-rap-star-dies-at-44.html

 

 

 

 

laid-back        USA

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/09/08/
549572505/don-williams-laid-back-country-legend-is-dead-at-78

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/
movies/jeff-bridges-the-dude-really-is-laid-back.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luann

by Greg Evans

GoComics

January 03, 2014

http://www.gocomics.com/luann#.UsaE5vTuK_8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wryness        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/us/
james-m-naughton-reporter-and-editor-dies-at-73.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gruff, charming and tenacious        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/22/
business/media/ben-bradlee-editor-
who-directed-watergate-coverage-dies-at-93.html

 

 

 

 

outspoken

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/us/politics/
outspoken-governor-tries-to-squeak-by-in-3-way-maine-race.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/jan/21/
michael-winner

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/nyregion/
robert-w-castle-jr-outspoken-harlem-priest-dies-at-83.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/dec/22/
james-pickles-obituary

 

 

 

 

outgoing        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/
business/12madoff.html

 

 

 

 

cheeky        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/may/09/
david-hockney-interview-cheeky-serious

 

 

 

 

tough-talking        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/
opinion/victor-gotbaum-the-citys-shop-steward.html

 

 

 

 

shrewd and combative        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/nyregion/
victor-gotbaum-labor-leader-who-helped-save-new-york-
from-bankruptcy-dies-at-93.html

 

 

 

 

stubborn

 

 

 

 

stubbornness        USA

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/08/
130684167/u-k-s-iron-lady-prime-minister-thatcher-dies

 

 

 

 

colourful        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/dec/22/
james-pickles-obituary

 

 

 

 

flamboyant        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/jan/21/
michael-winner

 

 

 

 

flamboyant        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/us/
politics/marion-s-barry-jr-former-mayor-of-washington-dies-at-78.html

 

 

 

 

charismatic        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/14/
tony-benn-the-history-man-editorial

 

 

 

 

charismatic        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/us/
politics/marion-s-barry-jr-former-mayor-of-washington-dies-at-78.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/us/
eddie-long-beleaguered-church-leader-to-stop-preaching.html

 

 

 

 

inspirational        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/14/
tony-benn-the-history-man-editorial

 

 

 

 

a rare breed of N        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/14/
tony-benn-rare-breed-idealism

 

 

 

 

narcissistic        USA

http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/
do-we-get-less-narcissistic-as-we-get-older/

 

 

 

 

businesslike        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/
nyregion/17rift.html

 

 

 

 

outspoken personality        USA

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/23/
491037719/trump-off-camera-the-man-behind-the-in-your-face-provocateur

 

 

 

 

uncouth        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/
nyregion/ivana-trump-dead.html

 

 

 

 

brash        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/
nyregion/ivana-trump-dead.html

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/23/
491037719/trump-off-camera-the-man-behind-the-in-your-face-provocateur

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/us/
joe-freeman-britt-called-americas-deadliest-da-dies-at-80.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/
nyregion/17rift.html

 

 

 

 

brash and blustery        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/20/
business/media/al-neuharth-executive-who-built-
gannett-and-usa-today-is-dead-at-89.html

 

 

 

 

brag about N        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/
nyregion/ivana-trump-dead.html

 

 

 

 

rambunctious        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/
obituaries/john-perry-barlow-internet-champion-dies.html

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/23/
491037719/trump-off-camera-the-man-behind-the-in-your-face-provocateur

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/
health/ricky-wyatt-57-dies-plaintiff-in-landmark-mental-care-suit.html

 

 

 

 

pugnacious        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/
nyregion/17rift.html

 

 

 

 

burly        USA

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/18/
533271568/amid-growing-threats-donkey-rescuers-protect-the-misunderstood-beasts-of-burden

 

 

 

 

a small and dapper but pugnacious man        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/20/
lord-mason-of-barnsley

 

 

 

 

blunt-talking        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/
nyregion/24bevona.html

 

 

 

 

gruff exterior        Uk

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/09/
prince-philip-proud-father-duke-of-edinburgh

 

 

 

 

boisterous        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/
sports/baseball/richie-phillips-union-leader-who-helped-and-hurt-umpires-dies-at-72.html

 

 

 

 

boisterous > cartoons > Cagle        USA        2010

http://www.cagle.msnbc.com/news/BoisterousBeck/main.asp

 

 

 

 

temperamental        USA

https://www.npr.org/2016/08/05/
488666956/painting-trump-as-temperamental-clinton-attempts-to-flip-the-gender-script

 

 

 

 

detail-obsessed        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/
nyregion/ivana-trump-dead.html

 

 

 

 

workaholic        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/
nyregion/ivana-trump-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gregarious        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/
business/12madoff.html

 

 

 

 

handsome        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/
business/12madoff.html

 

 

 

 

owlish        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/
sports/golf/21rudolph.html

 

 

 

 

puckish        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/us/
james-m-naughton-reporter-and-editor-dies-at-73.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/
arts/martin-segal-leading-new-york-cultural-figure-dies-at-96.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/
theater/william-duell-puckish-character-actor-dies-at-88.html

 

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/
arts/television/jimmy-savile-tv-personality-dies-at-84.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

terse        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/us/
justice-stevens-memoir-recounts-time-on-court-sidebar.html

 

 

 

wary        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/us/
justice-stevens-memoir-recounts-time-on-court-sidebar.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lanky        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/
sports/ncaabasketball/bob-kurland-88-pioneer-for-basketballs-big-men-dies.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/
arts/04postlethwaite.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

craggy face        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/16/
general-sir-mike-jackson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

craggy-faced        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/arts/
04postlethwaite.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gaunt-faced        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/
arts/television/leonard-nimoy-spock-of-star-trek-dies-at-83.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gaunt-looking        UK

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/06/
apple-pins-hopes-on-icloud

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a nursing home bed, still as stone,

Mr. Grossman looked awful.

 

A bedraggled, brittle-looking man, 77,

he was able to move only his left arm.

 

He had a large nose and protruding ears.

 

He had sunken jowls,

and all but five teeth were gone,

victims of too much affection for sweets.

 

Wispy white hair erupted from his head.        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/25/nyregion/
in-death-watch-for-stranger-becoming-a-friend-to-the-end.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cadaverous        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/16/
general-sir-mike-jackson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bald, stocky and bespectacled        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/
us/a-dealer-serving-life-without-having-taken-one.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stature        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/03/
nyregion/jimmy-dickens-94-an-outsize-country-singer.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

small

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small and unassuming

— she’s 5 foot 1 —

with a voice that evokes

the singsong politesse of Hollywood’s golden age,

Kennedy has a winking sense of humor

that might seem incongruous with her body of work,

which is often described as dark, difficult and abstract.        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/
t-magazine/adrienne-kennedy-broadway.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

diminutive        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/03/
nyregion/jimmy-dickens-94-an-outsize-country-singer.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/
movies/angus-lennie-actor-in-the-great-escape-dies-at-84.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

diminutive > Mr. Dickens stood 4-foot-11        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/03/nyregion/
jimmy-dickens-94-an-outsize-country-singer.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tall        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/16/
general-sir-mike-jackson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tall and commanding        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/31/
arts/music/lorraine-graves-pioneering-harlem-ballerina-
dies-at-66.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tall and heavyset,

with a shaved head,

a trim mustache

and a beard that grayed...        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/
arts/music/james-depreist-pioneering-conductor-dies-at-76.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

a very tall, lanky guy        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/
opinion/sunday/english-class-with-mr-roth.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 stand 6 feet tall        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/
nyregion/peter-colapietro-saloon-priest-dies.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

towering and lanky at 6-foot-4        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/us/
bob-lanier-ex-mayor-of-houston-dies-at-89.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

at 6 feet 6 inches        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/
sports/autoracing/buddy-baker-winner-of-the-1980-daytona-500-dies-at-74.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

at 6 feet 6 inches,

Mr. Britt was a thundering, theatrical presence

in the courtrooms of eastern North Carolina.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/us/
joe-freeman-britt-called-americas-deadliest-da-dies-at-80.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

be a towering presence (...)

at 6 feet 9 inches and 265 pounds or so        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/
sports/football/bob-st-clair-a-towering-49ers-tackle-dies-at-84.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

handsome with a magnificent physique

— he was a chiseled 6 feet 2 inches and 230 pounds —        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/
sports/football/jim-brown-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a bulky guy        USA

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/11/
492230194/some-towns-treat-bikes-as-trendy-but-in-reading-pa-theyre-tools

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cut an imposing figure        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/
arts/music/james-depreist-pioneering-conductor-dies-at-76.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

imposing        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/
us/in-virginia-trial-of-bob-and-maureen-mcdonnell-a-glaring-judge-sets-the-pace.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

an imposing 6-foot-4, 250-pound salesman        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/
arts/television/michael-king-builder-of-a-tv-empire-dies-at-67.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fat        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/07/
469571114/the-forgotten-history-of-fat-men-s-clubs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

grizzled features        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/16/
general-sir-mike-jackson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

no-nonsense manner        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/16/
general-sir-mike-jackson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

weirdo        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/dec/22/
captain-beefheart-back-catalogue

 

 

 

 

unhinged        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us/
politics/10capital.html

 

 

 

 

mentally unstable        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us/
politics/10capital.html

 

 

 

 

troubled

 

 

 

 

looking pale but composed        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/21/oxford-
child-sex-abuse-ring

 

 

 

 

creepy        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/us/
13college.html

 

 

 

 

hostile        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/us/
13college.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

freckles        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/us/
politics/30twitter.html

 

 

 

 

chubby        USA

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/apr/07/
us-comedian-john-pinette-dies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wry smile        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/09/
1155708499/biden-had-a-sick-burn-in-his-state-of-the-union-speech-
lots-of-luck-explaining-i

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

smirk        UK

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk-news/2013/jul/18/
carl-mills-family-burned-cwmbran

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hipster        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/20/
is-it-ok-to-hate-hipsters-will-self

 

 

 

 

hipster        USA

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/02/
six-things-hipsters-have-ruined

 

 

 

 

hippie        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/us/
talk-of-land-sale-divides-southern-californias-slab-city-dwellers.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

scruffy        UK

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/15/
does-it-matter-teachers-scruffy-ofsted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

eyes wide in horror        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/us/
horror-drove-her-from-south-100-years-later-she-returned.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gravelly voice        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/16/
general-sir-mike-jackson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corpus of news articles

 

Language > Descriptions > Describing people

 

Appearance, personality, traits

 

 

 

General Sir Mike Jackson obituary

 

Former head of the British army

and commander in the Gulf war of 2003

 

Known for his grizzled features, no-nonsense manner and gravelly voice, General Sir Mike Jackson, who has died aged 80 of prostate cancer, became not only the most recognisable British soldier since Field Marshal Montgomery, but could have been drawn from central casting.

Tall, cadaverous and with a craggy face – even the bags under his eyes had bags, it was said, at least until he had them lifted, not for vanity but to improve his eyesight – he looked like the sort of man who could face down enemies whether in Kosovo or Iraq, as indeed he did.

Jackson, always known as Mike, or Jacko, to his troops, served during a 40-year career in just about every conflict that the British army has been engaged in since the 1960s: Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan; with the exception of the Falklands war, in which he served behind a desk back in Whitehall.

He was on the scene of Bloody Sunday as a relatively junior officer of the Parachute Regiment in Derry in January 1972, when troops of the regiment killed 13 unarmed civilians on a civil rights protest march. And 25 years later, as a Nato commander, he refused his US superior’s command to block a runway in Pristina to prevent Russian forces landing, telling him bluntly: “Sir, I’m not going to start World War Three for you.”

However, Jackson was more sensitive than his image conveyed, with a marked intelligence and diplomatic subtlety, though that did not prevent him from speaking his mind robustly, especially after his retirement.

Born in Sheffield a few weeks before D-day, he was the son of Ivy (nee Bower), who worked at the city’s museum, and George, a former Household Cavalry trooper with a commission in the Royal Army Service Corps. From the age of eight, he was a boarder at Stamford school, Lincolnshire, where he served in the cadet force and failed to shine academically except for languages, including Russian.

Instead of university, he went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, then offering a two-year officer training course, and on being commissioned chose in 1963 to join the Intelligence Corps, where he might use his languages. He subsequently took a Russian studies degree at Birmingham University.

As part of his induction into the corps Jackson was required to serve for a year with an infantry battalion, choosing the Parachute Regiment and transferring to the unit in 1970 as it offered better officer career prospects. Within two years he became adjutant of the 1st brigade, and it was as a captain in Derry, seconded to the brigade commander Derek Wilford and acting part time as a press officer, that he witnessed the shootings of the demonstrators.

Jackson was convinced that the troops had been fired on first, but admitted in his memoirs that the situation had been confused: “I hated the thought that our soldiers might have lost control … I found it difficult to accept that there could have been any mass breach of discipline.” When the Saville report into the killings was published in 2010 he made an apology.

After attending the Army staff college, Jackson served as an infantry brigade major in Berlin (1977-78). Back in Northern Ireland in 1979 during the Troubles, he was a company commander and soon on the scene of the killing of 18 soldiers at Warrenpoint, County Down. He was seconded to the staff of the college (1981-83), and appointed as a military assistant in intelligence at the Ministry of Defence during the Falklands war (1982).

In 1984 he took command of the first battalion of the Parachute Regiment, which went to Norway for winter warfare exercises with Nato. Following time at the Higher Command staff course and six months as a defence fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge (1989), he returned once more to Northern Ireland as commander of an infantry brigade in Belfast (1990-92) as talks were getting under way and the army’s role was to serve as back-up to the civilian police.

Posting to Nato as a major general followed, coinciding with the Balkans conflict (1995-96). He was in charge of the Implementation Force, IFOR, overseeing the ceasefire and the beginnings of reconstruction and facing down the leaderships on both sides, including the Serb commander Ratko Mladić, “a brutal, boastful and manipulative thug”, who was somewhat cowed by Jackson’s strategy of moving armoured vehicles constantly outside their meeting to demonstrate the potential fire power at his disposal.

His success in this role led to his appointment as commander of Nato’s rapid reaction force in Kosovo, as Serb and Kosovan forces faced off in 1999. It led to his famous clash with the US general Wesley Clark, his superior as Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

That happened as the Russian president Boris Yeltsin promised Russian troops to help keep the peace, which was suspected as an attempt to aid the Serbs and muscle in on Nato’s effort. With Russian troops making towards Pristina, the Kosovan capital, Clark ordered Jackson to block the airport runway. The move would have led to a direct confrontation and Jackson refused.

He told him: “Sir, I am a three- star general, you can’t give me orders like this. I have my own judgment of the situation and I believe this order is outside our mandate.” The British government backed him, and Clark conceded.

After the Russians arrived Jackson secured amicable relations with their commander Viktor Zavarzin, partly through his ability to speak Russian and largely through shared quantities of whisky and vodka.

His diplomatic success hinged on his even-handedness towards both Serbs and Kosovans, defusing tensions, providing security for both sides and starting the rebuilding process. The Balkans conflict brought him recognition in Britain as a capable soldier, direct and engaging, even archetypical as a military man, in interviews and broadcasts. He had the support of his men, too, who jokily declared themselves followers of the Prince of Darkness until their T-shirts were deemed inappropriate.

He returned to Britain as commander-in-chief, land forces, and then in 2003 chief of the general staff during the Iraq invasion, highly critical of the lack of planning for the aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein and tough on discipline, for officers as well as the troops they commanded.

His more lasting influence however lay in the reorganisation of the army’s infantry battalions, partly to save money, but also to account for the military’s changing role. Historic regiments were merged, larger units were created and bases were reordered to reduce operational inefficiencies.

Jackson retired in 2006, laden with honours: an MBE in 1979, CBE 1992, DSO in 1999, knighthood 1998 and knight grand cross, the highest military honour, in 2005. He published his autobiography, Soldier, in 2007 and continued to make regular appearances in interviews and documentaries.

He was married twice, first to Jennifer Savery, with whom he had two children, Amanda and Mark. After their divorce, in 1985, he married Sarah Coombe, with whom he had a son, Tom. She and his children survive him.

Mike (Michael David) Jackson,

military commander,

born 21 March 1944; died 15 October 2024

Former head of the British army
and commander in the Gulf war of 2003,
G,
Wed 16 Oct 2024    18.58 CEST
Last modified on Thu 24 Oct 2024    20.59 CEST
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/16/
general-sir-mike-jackson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

One Project, One Faith,

and Two Men Who Differ

 

September 16, 2010

The New York Times

By ANNE BARNARD

 

The two men behind the proposed Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero are from different generations and distinct backgrounds — the imam, 61, grew up in England and Malaysia and immigrated to New York as a teenager; the real estate developer, 37, spent his early childhood in Brooklyn, then attended American schools overseas.

The imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is cerebral, soft-spoken and sometimes otherworldly. The developer, Sharif el-Gamal, is businesslike, brash and sometimes pugnacious.

Each has his own public relations firm and behind-the-scenes advisers. They have individual — not always identical — visions for the project, which they occasionally call by different names: the imam still speaks of it as Cordoba House, a name laden with religious history, while the developer uses the less-charged Park51. And amid the swirling controversy about their shared mission, they sometimes give different answers to thorny questions.

When asked why they resist moving the center to defuse critics who call its location near ground zero insensitive, for example, Mr. Abdul Rauf said a move would anger Muslims overseas and endanger American troops. Mr. Gamal, though, has always based his adamant stance on a constitutional right to build what he wants, where he wants, declaring: “I’m an American, I’m a New Yorker. I don’t hold my faith responsible for 9/11.”

While some differences are only natural — an imam focused on religious activities planned for the center and a developer more likely to talk up the swimming pool — and could be complementary, they have sometimes undermined efforts to build support. Their loose coordination has caused public misunderstandings — sometimes dramatic ones, as when it was briefly believed that the imam had agreed to move the center in return for a fringe Florida pastor’s promise not to burn the Koran. And even some supporters say the two men’s differing priorities are making it harder, or at least more time consuming, to quell the controversy.

“They’re very different individuals and they have different interests in the project,” said Julie Menin, chairwoman of Community Board 1, which voted in favor of the project.

Sometimes, she said, “It seems that they’re on two separate pages.”

The two men met around 2006, when Mr. Gamal, who works downtown, began visiting Masjid al-Farah, the mosque in TriBeCa where Mr. Abdul Rauf has presided since the 1980s. Both came to Sufi Islam as adults, and they have a strong personal bond: Mr. Gamal said that hearing the imam’s Friday sermon for the first time was “a dose of spirituality I hadn’t had in the longest time.”

Soon after, he asked the imam to officiate at his wedding, and they began dreaming up the community center out of a shared concern about crowding at two existing mosques in Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Gamal describes himself as the man in charge of the planned center, 120,000 square feet in size, and the sole arbiter of its location. His real estate company owns and leases the properties where it is to be built, 45-51 Park Place.

Mr. Abdul Rauf describes himself as the center’s visionary. He tried to initiate a similar project in the 1990s but failed to raise the cash.

Both agree that the imam will run the mosque and its interfaith programs, though they are still working out what those programs should look like.

Further complicating the situation is the role of Daisy Khan, the imam’s wife, a chatty, sophisticated former interior designer with a public profile that complements but does not mirror her husband’s.

It was Ms. Khan who took a phone call last week from a Florida imam trying to dissuade the fringe pastor, Terry Jones, from burning the Koran on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, agreeing that “we” — it was never clear who — would meet with the pastor, who promptly declared on television that the imam had agreed to move the center.

In the initial confusion, not even Mr. Gamal was sure it was not true.

Ms. Khan, whose American Society for Muslim Advancement shares an office with her husband’s Cordoba Initiative near Columbia University, has often been involved in public relations about the project, particularly when Mr. Abdul Rauf was out of the country in August on a State Department trip to the Middle East. The couple shares a professional collaboration not unlike the one in the Clinton White House. But Mr. Gamal has recently let it be known that Ms. Khan has no official role in Park51.

The most recent disconnect has come over a compromise being suggested, in which the community center would add worship space for Christians, Jews and others. Mr. Gamal at first appeared cool to the idea, while Mr. Abdul Rauf was quick to embrace it publicly, according to Ms. Menin, a supporter of the project who has suggested that such a move could attract a wider base of donors and support.

Ms. Menin said Mr. Gamal told her that existing plans for programs to bring together different religions were enough. The imam, who wrote in an Op-Ed essay in The New York Times on Sept. 7 that the center would include worship space for all faiths, seems more eager to compromise and “build more consensus,” Ms. Menin said.

Mr. Gamal’s spokesman, Larry Kopp, said Wednesday that Mr. Gamal had decided to include an ecumenical worship space, as long as it did not reduce the space available to Muslims, and that details would take time to work out.

On the larger question of the project’s proximity to the World Trade Center site, Kurt Tolksdorf, one of Mr. Abdul Rauf’s closest friends from college, said in a recent interview that he “would not be surprised” if the imam consented to changing the location, if only because the conflict was exhausting and saddening him. “He can oppose intolerance without building the mosque at that particular spot,” Mr. Tolksdorf said.

Mr. Gamal, meanwhile, has told supporters he feels more determined the shriller the opposition becomes.

Mr. Abdul Rauf, Mr. Gamal and others have insisted in interviews that they have no substantive disagreements about the project, just different roles and personalities.

“Sharif is a businessman and he owns the property; I’m an imam and a spiritual leader who has a vision,” Mr. Abdul Rauf said last week. “He is a very capable man, very deeply committed towards the goal, a contribution to our country, to our city, to our neighborhood.”

Mr. Kopp said simply, “They are on the same page.”

The imam, whose Cordoba Initiative has offices in a building packed with religious — mostly Christian — nonprofit groups and nicknamed the God Box, has spent much of his time since 9/11 networking with Jewish and Christian leaders, urging American Muslims to expand their civic roles at home while promoting moderation abroad. He has also been on something of a media campaign, appearing recently on “Larry King Live” and speaking on Monday at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Gamal, who became a broker and property manager with Soho Properties after an abortive college career and several brushes with the law, has largely retreated behind the scenes since the imam’s return to New York.

To Mr. Abdul Rauf, who always emphasizes the center’s interfaith agenda, its location near ground zero is essential to its message of healing 9/11’s wounds and promoting moderate Islam.

Mr. Gamal, who tends to emphasize plans for a “world-class” architectural design, swimming pool, cooking school, restaurant and performing arts center, said he had selected the site because it was near the crowded downtown mosques and inexpensive. Ground zero, he said, had “nothing to do with it.”

They initially agreed to call the center Cordoba House, for the Spanish city in which Muslims, Jews and Christians shared a scholarly golden age a thousand years ago, but Mr. Gamal changed the name to Park51 after some opponents said medieval Cordoba, which Muslims ruled from 711 until Christians conquered them in the 13th century, signified Muslim domination. The imam’s religious programs will still bear that name, and he seemed to use it to refer to the whole center in his essay in The Times.

The day after the essay appeared, Mr. Gamal issued a press release reminding people that the center’s name was Park51.

One Project, One Faith, and Two Men Who Differ,
NYT,
16.9.2010,
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/
nyregion/17rift.html  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related > Anglonautes > Vocapedia > Language

 

describing people > appearance and personality

 

describing people > behaviour > being busy, etc.

 

describing people > qualities

 

 

 

 

 

Explore more on these topics

Anglonautes > Vocapedia > English language

 

describing / talking about

language, actions, things,

facts, events, trends, ideas,

sounds, pictures, places,

people, personality traits, behaviour

 

 

English language >

describing people / actions / thoughts,

iconic words,

translations / faux amis,

acronyms

 

 

 

 

 

Related > Anglonautes >

Grammaire anglaise explicative - niveau avancé

 

adjectifs > adjectifs composés

 

 

 

home Up